Handcuffs, Kisses and Awkward Situations (PUBLISHED, SAMPLE)

Chapter [2]

Because this book is now published, content stops after chapter twenty. Please proceed with this information in mind.  

T w o

            You would have thought I was a prisoner who just broke out of jail when I picked up a boulder and threw it across the principal's office. Okay, maybe it wasn't a boulder. More like a rock. A sugar rock. Fine, it was a purple jellybean! And even though it bounced off the wall and smacked me in the forehead, I still proved my point about my frustration.

            "What do you mean you can't find the key?" I repeated, my blood boiling in fury.

            "We did not lose the key. It's just been temporarily misplaced," Officer Brandy corrected me for the seventh time, running a hand through his thick, brown hair. "We have a search party on the case."

            In other words, Officer Garret was searching the police car while a few extra staff swept through the auditorium. I had been stuck with Ryder all afternoon and we were seconds away from the final school bell. And though I was standing there, hand on my hips and glaring at the adults in outrage, Ryder was comfortably cosy in the leather chair sitting in the corner. He had his third can of orange soda in his hands; complimentary from the police department because of the inconvenience.

            "Listen here, Donut Dude," I growled, pointing an accusing finger at him like a scowling mother. "I am chained to Ryder Collins. We have a past."

            Mrs. Westfield, the principal, slid her cat-eye glasses up her nose and narrowed her eyes at me. "Miss Montgomery," she warned, "watch how you address your elders."

            Officer Brandy seemed more interested in what I had said, rather than what I had called him. His caterpillar eyebrows rose up to his hairline. "A past?" he questioned, eyes flicking from Ryder to me and back. "Bad relationship?"

            I shivered in disgust and Ryder choked on his drink. Wiping his mouth from the orange splutter on his lips, he said, "As if I'd date anything that ugly."

            My eyes met his raging blue eyes and I gave him a look that could kill. Before I could snap back a witty remark, the door to the principal's office swung open. Officer Garret looked flustered. His cheeks had bloomed into a rosy pink and his hair was tousled from the winter wind outside. He looked at us all, pulled his sagging trousers over his beer belly and marched into the room. My stomach tightened as I held my breath and waited to listen for the search update.

            "I've thoroughly examined the police cruiser and there was no sign of the keys," he announced grimly.

            I clenched my fists and narrowed my eyes at the officers. This was ridiculous. What kind of policemen were they? They couldn't even keep track of a key! Anger boiled inside me as I grinded my teeth together, trying to compress harsh words threatening to slip out.

            Mrs. Westfield's red lips pursed into a tight line as she exchanged quick glances with the police officers.  Placing her hands on the mahogany desk in front of her, she pushed back the leather office chair and paced around the small space of her office.

            There was a knock on the door at that moment and in came a happy little boy. He wore a Thomas the Tank Engine backpack and was carrying a little box filled with green tick tacks. It was Sam, Mrs. Westfield's nephew. He was cute in a way, other than that time he licked me because my ice-cream had dribbled onto my leg. It was both weird and creepy.